A comment on the philosophy of Michel Serres:
Michel Serres has worked intensively to bring philosophy back to life. This task is among others done by expressing himself and his thought in the language of the people. He does not operate with a meta-language.
The task of philosophy is to put things together, showing that nothing exists outside the various relations that create life. In this sense he shows us that communication is relation, like a tracing of the paths between elements, the mixture of things.
Unlike other French philosophers he does not deal with the unspeakable as the other side of the speakable, but shows that life with all its senses consist of more than what can reside in language. Wisdom is more than words.
This opens up for an inventive or creative element in his philosophy.
2 comments:
It seems that the hopefulness of Serres's scholarship and thought is a flavour that diverse readers have picked up on. Have you seen Mari Zournazi's collection of interviews titled Hope? She interviews Serres for that project.
I wonder if perhaps certain branches of philosophy succummed to the hubris that some regions of science fell into - believing that an explanation of something from one vantage point (perhaps the mathematical or chemical or physical) is equal to a full description of the subject in question. Serres has laboured to ensure that the voice of synthesis and integration is not lost amid the noisy mechanistic roar of much contemporary thinking, inside and outside the academy.
Thanks for the comment.
I read the interview a few years ago. It was interesting. I believe Serres has a very positive project. Humble in a way that is very rare in the academic world.
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